Receptacle update help.

Receptacle update help.
2 black/hot, 1 white/neutral to one outlet. Old wiring I took off the old and I didn't pay attention to how it was wired. I was surprised to see the 3 wires. It appears that the wires are 2 black and 1 white, but, for some reason I thought one of the wires I thought was hot was connected to the neutral side of the receptacles. The goal was to update it to a new receptacle. Now I�m not sure how to wire it. Can Any One help? I did try one black wire on each gold screw and the white on the silver screw side but the breaker wouldn�t go back on.

Pictures are of the wires coming out of the wall, the outlet/receptacle, and inside the receptacle box.

Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forums and hello fellow Minnesotan!

By your last picture it appears you have a white, black and red from the left. And a black and white on the right. The red on the left appears to be connected to the black on the right.

You should check them with a meter (Carefully!) to make sure you get 120 volts between the left black and either the left or right white.

So, I suspect the whites get connected to the receptacle (or pig tail them) silver screws, and the black gets connected the receptacle brass screws.

 

Are you replacing them with ungrounded receptacles?

 

Thanks for the help! I think that my last picture might be confusing (maybe just to me because of the connections that don't leave the receptacle).

I checked the voltage between the 2 wires that look black, that leave the receptacle and there is 120. there is some crusty white paint on one of the black wires... should i assume that's the white wire? When I check either of the 2 wires that look black and the one that's white it registers nothing.

I did use the guess and check method(dumb i know), I tried the white wire on the neutral side, and one black on the hot the other on Neutral. Then i traded the black wires. Both ways the outlet works(120v).
So my question is, how do i know which wire is the one that should be on the neutral side and which one should be on the hot side? And what do i do with the wire that's obviously white. My thought would be that that obvious white wire will go on the neutral side and the wire that looks black but has some white crusty paint on it(visible in the bottom picture, far left based on how the picture is tilted BUT it's actually coming down from the top of the receptacle.)

Oh and the plan is to replace to 2 prong receptacle with the 3 prong, although i don't plan to run a additional ground wire. The other outlets i've done this to, and i've checked, the outlets read as grounded(checked with AC Outlet Ground Tester)....

Thanks again for the help.

 

I'm willing to bet the black wire with the white paint is also a neutral. You could splice them (The two whites) together and see if the red circuit works. (leave the black circuit off)

 

Unlikely to be code compliant. Not a reliable way to test.

Use a polarized extension cord plugged into a known correctly wired receptacle. Using a multimeter measure between the hot of the extension cord and each wire. The one that shows ~120 is neutral.

 

You will need to add GFI protection unless you can prove your wiring is grounded. I doubt that it is.